


A Long way From Home

by FieldOfSunflowers



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Video Game World, Animal Death, Arthur tries his best, But I did my best, But also, Canon-Typical Violence, Drunk Shenanigans, F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I wrote it with a nickname, Mention of drinking, Micah Bell is gross, POV Female Character, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Tension will build, Video Game: Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018), arthur morgan - Freeform, can be self insert doesn't have to be though, cannon deaths, kind Arthur Morgan, kinda non cannon, obviously, other cowboy stuff, red dead - Freeform, red dead redemption - Freeform, red dead redemption 2 - Freeform, so do what you will, there will be spoilers, tough arthur morgan, we'll be okay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 09:00:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21966784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FieldOfSunflowers/pseuds/FieldOfSunflowers
Summary: Read through the eyes of "Star" a strong independent woman of 1899. Born and raised in the swamps of Lemoyne, you wanted more for your life and ran away to head out west. Until your plans are changed after a chance encounter with a helpful stranger saves your life, but he apart of a wild gang of outlaws on the run from a recent robbery gone wrong. The gang's leader decides you know too much as you two agree to work out a deal for your silence about the gang's whereabouts, but you may be getting yourself into more than you bargain for.This may be your chance at a new life like you had always secretly dreamed of having, or are you too late as the sun sets on the time of American outlaws ruling the once lawless frontier.
Relationships: Arthur Morgan/Original Female Character(s), Arthur Morgan/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. A Close Call

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to my story A Long way From Home! I was inspired to write this at two in the morning, and even though this game came out over a year ago I still love it and have had a lot of fun writing it. Now this is my first ever actual long fic that I have EVER written so I appreciate any advice anyone may have (but also please be nice or I may cry). These first few chapters are pretty long, but they also contain a lot of dialog as the characters are meeting each other and interacting. I promise to calm down on some of the dialog once we get the ball rolling a bit more. But one thing I know fore sure is this story is going to be a long one so buckle in and get ready. 
> 
> There may be a few grammar errors scattered through here, I kinda decided to change the whole point of view the story was told from, but I had already written the first two chapters at that point so instead of scrapping it I just decided to go back and try to change and fix it. I may have missed some, I'm really sorry.
> 
> ALSO IMPORTANT There is a section of this story that changes the P.O.V. for a little while and follows Arthur and some other gang members, I promise not to do that too often, but it was in there before I changed the whole P.O.V. of the story and everything and I fell like it was necessary to keep. So sorry if you don't like it. I don't plan on doing it again don't worry.

You had been completely on you own for only a few weeks now, and had never been this far north before in your life. What were you thinking, you had been a southern girl born and raised in swamps of Lemoyne. You should have known coming up here if the cold didn’t get me the wildlife surely would. You should have stayed down south, you weren’t made for Ambarino. Yet There you are north of O’Creagh’s run desperate to find something for dinner tonight. 

You awoke early that morning surrounded by the chilly air. Your horse Bella, a solid black American Standardbred, grazing in a patch of grass not far away. You weren't quite sure exactly where you were, but it had been your camp for the past two weeks. “Today’s the day” you tell yourself as you lazily got up and head toward Bella. Today was the day you were going to have more to eat than just some wild berries and stale old crackers. 

My stomach growls as you pull yourself up onto you horse. You can’t remember the last time you had an actual meal. You had been a bit of a wanderer for the past six months now, but till now you stuck to Lemoyne joining up with people who were usually just passing through. There truly was safety in numbers down there, with the raiders thinking they ran the place and the night folk in the swamps you avoided staying on my own when you could.

After a few minutes of riding you came upon a path that seemed promising enough. It led up between two rocks and had a few trees scattered in it. “What do you think Bella, figure it leads somewhere?” you ask, mostly talking to yourself. Bella wasn’t much for conversation, but she was all you had out here. 

Hitching Bella by some trees a little ways from the mouth of the pathway, you give her a small pet before heading off. “Stay here girl, I’ll be back before you know it.” With that you grab your bow and rifle off her saddle and head back toward the path.  
Once you made your way back to the path you started making my way through it up the slight hill between the rocks. Carefully placing your feet not to step on any sticks, looking around and listening for movement.

You are only a few minutes up the trail when you hear something rustling in the bushes near by. Looking carefully didn’t see anything. You drew slowly draw your bow as you approach the source of the noise, careful not to spook off whatever animal may in the bushes. 

After a few seconds of waiting a rabbit came sprinting out of the bush, you took a shot but missed. “He sure seemed spooked by something,” you mumble as you head over to retrieve your arrow out of the ground. 

You stand there looking back down the path wondering if it would be better to continue on or head back and try my luck somewhere else. 

Down by the water may be a good spot, animals have to get thirsty eventually, and I bet… your thoughts were cut off by the sound of something approaching from behind. 

You slowly turn your head to find the source of the sound, You weren’t prepared for what had come up behind you standing not five feet away was a large grizzly bear with a scarred up face, who didn’t look pleased to see you. 

Frozen and terrified, all your thoughts had left your mind. You were sure this was how you were going to meet your end. You knew better than to come up north, and this is where it got you. Standing face to face with a hungry bear at least three times your own size.

The beast took a step closer standing up on its back legs towering above you. You almost have to strain your neck to look up at its face. You go to slowly take a step back, running would be of no use, and your bow would just make it angry. Time began to move in slow motion, I felt as if the stare down had been going on for hours. You go to take a step back, trying to put some disance between you two, praying it may let you slowly back away and go on your way. 

But walking backwards proved to be a mistake. Not looking where you was going I felt as your foot slipped out from under me as you fell backwards. 

As you fell back your head slammed back against the hard rocky ground. The giant beast still standing over you. Your ears ringing from the impact on the ground, you close my eyes and throw you arms above my face. If this is how you were going to go you didn’t want to see it. You hear the animal give out deep growl, before taking a swipe with one of its giant paws at your face and arms. 

You feel as it’s claws tear into your skin, a feeling of intense burning and tearing pain and the fear that accompanied it rushes. The animal gave out another growl, you prepare myself the best you could for what I knew was coming.

BANG, the sound of gunfire rang out, followed by a loud thud. The whole world seemed to stop. You couldn’t move, you didn’t dare to open your eyes. You continue to lie there frozen to the ground, feeling the burning in your arms as the blood dripped onto the ground beside you.

“Ma’am! Ma’am, are you alright?” an unknown voice called out. 

Were you dead, who is that, why are they here, why did they save me, what if they didn’t show up all of these thoughts and questions ran through your mind, as you lie there continuing to not move. 

“Look ma’am I ain’t gonna hurt you that bear is dead you’re safe now,” the man called out as he came closer. “Can you get up?”

“I… I don’t know, I think so,” you respond.

“Careful now don’t get up too fast. Looks like he got you pretty good there, how's your arm?” he asks you.

“O. Okay I guess, I can’t really feel it anymore so it must not be too bad, right?” you say as you begin to shakily sit up. You manage to get yourself to you feet without too much trouble, but as soon as you stand up you something was wrong. Your head began to spin and your vision blurred. You guess the man saw something was wrong, as caught you and lowered you to the ground. 

“No just cause you can’t feel it don’t mean it ain’t bad. Sometimes the ones you can’t feel end up being the worst ones.” He tells you as he helps you down. “Just sit tight right here I’ll be right back.”

You managed to nod my head, as he began to turn and walk away. 

A few minutes had past, your vision had returned and the world for the most part had stopped spinning at 100 miles an hour around you. The man returns followed by a brown and white horse. 

“Feeling any better?” he asks.

“I suppose.”

“Well. You ain’t dead yet so I’ll say that’s a good sign.” said the man rummaging through his saddle bags.

You better able to see now, you sat there observing him. Trying to figure out if you knew this man, you don’t think you have ever seen him before. 

“Ah, here we are,” he said to himself, pulling out a little bottle from the bottom of the bag. “Here, this will help, let me see your arm.”

“What is it?”

“Just a little, well actually I uhh, I don’t know what all it is actually,” he look at the bottle closely. “A buddy of mine made it up for me as a bit of a favor.”

“And I can trust you and your ‘buddy’ to not be poisoning me or anything” you ask in a half humorous voice.

“If I wanted you dead, I would have let the bear do it for me. Now just let me see your arms.”

The bear had gotten the back of both my arms pretty bad, lucky it seemed my left arm had gotten the worst of it. It had four or five good scratches on it, two of them looked pretty deep. I wasn’t sure how deep they were, but I decided didn’t want to know. 

You sit there as the man carefully put a bit of the cream on the cuts on your arms. 

“There that should do it, here you can have this.” He said as he hands you the bottle. “Keep this you’ll be needing more of it till those heal up.”

You look at the bottle in his hands, it was old and dirty the label unreadable. What ever was in it now surely isn’t what it had originally had in it anyway. You hadn’t noticed before, but upon looking closer you noticed his hands were rough and calloused.

“Thank you,” you spoke quietly as you grab the bottle from his open hands “You didn’t have to do all that for me I could have done it myself.”

“You seemed like you were havin’ a bad day. Just thought I would help you out. My good deed for the year.”

“Well thank you sir. If it wasn’t for you I’d surely be a goner.”

“Best to just not mention it to anyone. I should be headin’ off now. I’ll leave the bear to you I figure you deserve it” 

He helps you to your feet, before climbing onto his horse.

“Thank you again Mr. uhhh, Mr. I never got your name.”

The expression on his face suddenly changed, he seemed surprised and almost unsure how to answer.

After a few seconds of an internal debate the man spoke “Arthur. Arthur Callahan.”

With that he turned his horse and began to make his way back down the path toward the main road. 

“Well,” you call out, “you’re a good man Mr. Callahan.”

“I assure you ma’am I anything but a good man, you don’t know a single thing about me.”

With that he spurred his horse and broke off into a gallop, quickly making his way down the trail and out of sight.

\----------------------------------------------  
3 Days Later  
\----------------------------------------------

You had bear for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day till now. You have stayed put too long, were too far north for your liking, and close call with that bear had been the final straw. You were leaving. You were not sure where you were going to head other than west. You had heard of called Blackwater over in West Elizabeth, maybe you could head there. It was further south than here that was for sure, and for you right now that was reason enough. 

Packing up camp that morning had been a spur of the moment decision, but you just couldn’t stand it any longer. Anymore you felt the need to be constantly on the move never wanting to stay in the same place for too long. You had been at that camp for weeks, and so you were leaving, not that you had anywhere to go. 

Along the ride you keep yourself entertained with your thoughts. Your mind kept wandering back to the interaction you had just a few days ago with Arthur Callahan. You’ve relieved those moments countless times over the past few days. Imagining every possible scenario that could have played out that day. What if he hadn’t been there, what if he had missed, could the bear have killed us both? 

But you also spent a lot of time thinking about him, Mr. Arthur Callahan. There was a mystery about him you could feel. But what was it. Why had he been there that day, and where did he run off too. Why did he pause for so long before telling you his name? Maybe he was just some sort of guardian angel sent to protect me. 

You chuckle at your own thoughts. “The Lord wouldn’t be sending none of his angels to look after me,” You sigh to yourself, looking down at Bella’s silky black main. 

You haven’t braided her hair in a while you thought. When you were a young girl your horse always had a braided main. Your momma didn’t let you braid the tail though, she didn’t like you standing behind a horse for so long she worried about you getting a swift kick to the head.

If only she could see you now. Running around these states all by yourself, she’d surely have a fit.

Your thoughts continue as you rode on. You’re unsure where you were headed to, but you were keeping your eyes peeled for the nearest town. 

All you knew was that you are headed west… and south. You figured you are somewhere in New Hannover, based on the open grasslands and rolling hills in the distance. This place didn’t seem like a bad hunting spot. It seemed to have plenty of wild life, and most importantly no bears. 

The sun was high up in the sky, and you had been looking for an opportunity to stretch my legs when I came up on a small town. You rode into town past the train station, looking to see what the town had to offer. “Looks like we found ourselves a small little farming town, huh Bella?” You whisper as you lightly pat the side of her neck. 

You turned down what looked like the main road in town. It was lined with a few different businesses. A general store, saloon, a hotel, and some other various buildings. 

You hitch Bella in front of the general store, and headed inside.

“Why hello ma’am,” said the shopkeep waving cheerfully.

“Hi,” you gave a polite smile in return.

“If you need help finding anything let me know, or I have the catalog up here at the counter. I’ve got a little bit of everything here, so just take your time.”

“Thanks, but I’m just looking right now” you reply. You took your time looking at the shelves seeing what they had. You spot a small pile of apples and pick one up for Bella as a treat. Afterwards you grab a few vegetable cans, and packs of crackers for yourself.

“Is this all?”

“Yes, this will do me just fine. I’m just passing through.” 

“Heading out of town already or you going to stick around for a few days?”

“I may stay here for the night. I saw you had the hotel across the road.” You can hardly remember what it was like to sleep on an actual bed.

“Oh yes, a fine place to stay. Rooms ain’t too expensive.”

“Well thank you”

“Have a good day ma’am,” he nodded kindly as he handed me my groceries. 

You walk out of the store holding my bag of groceries, headed over to Bella. Reaching in to the bag you pull out a bright red apple. “Here you go girl,” you spoke softly as she eats the fruit out of your hand. “Now I’ve got to go see about a room for the night.”

You enter the hotel and speak to the man at the front desk, successfully getting myself a room for the night at a low price. You headed up the stairs and down the hall to your room and quickly placed your bag by the bed before turning around and heading back out the door. 

It had been a long day, and You needed a drink.

You enter the saloon on the main road, the place was full of drunk men and working ladies who were just trying to make a living. You make way way over to the bar, took a seat and order a beer. 

“Now whats a little lady like yourself doing in a place like this all by yourself?” 

You don’t bother to turn your head, knowing it was just some drunk creep. “Who said I was here alone?” You ask as you took another drink.

“Well I don’t s.see no one elssse,” he slurs his S’s as he speaks.

“Maybe I’m waitin on ‘em.”

“Well they ain’t here yet are they?”

“That’s why I said I’m waitin”

“Well, maybe we could go have a little fun while you wait. What do ya ssay doll face.”

“No, I think I best stay right here.”

The man let out an annoyed growl at my answer “Listen here. Don’t nobody tell me no, do you know who I am.”

“You’re just a drunk man at the bar,” You reply sarcastically.

“Bitch, not even worth my time. I got girls beggin’ to be with me.”

“Well why don’t you go find one of them, I’m sure they’d love to go have fun with you.” 

He left mumbling what was likely some not nice words. You let out a sigh of relief, not everyone would give up that easily. You think you earned another drink.

You had just finished my second beer, and was about to get up to leave. You want to head out of town early the next day. So you knew you shouldn’t stick around I’d start drinking without stopping. You go to get up from the bar when you hear a familiar deep voice.

“Just one or two, right Arthur?” 

“Course,” replied the man who just a few days ago had saved your life.

You turn to see him sitting just a few seats down from you. He didn’t seem to notice you we’re there, or perhaps he didn’t recognize you. Between you a young looking boy who he seemed to be with, he appeared to be much younger than Arthur. 

“Mr. Callahan, what a surprise to see you here.”

Your comment seems to grab both of the men's attention rather quickly. Arthur looks at you, with a look of surprise on his face, but his eyes seem concerned. 

The young man in the middle looks and you then back at Arthur. They mumble some words to each other too softly for you to hear over the rumble of other people's conversations and music from the piano.

“This man here saved my life just a few days ago.” You say interrupting their quiet conversation

“Oh, did he now?” ask the boy raising an eyebrow.

“Yep, weren’t for him I woulda been a goner. Almost got eaten by a bear. He killed it though, a minute later and he would have found a dead body.”

“Well I guess that was mighty kind of you Arthur Callahan,” the young man chuckles.

Arhur rolls his eyes as he takes another drink. “It wasn’t nothin’”

“Maybe to you,” you sigh. “Here let me buy you and your friend a drink, as a more proper thank you.”

“Why thank you Ma’am, my friend here surely needs it.” Arthur joking pats the boys shoulder as he spoke.

“Been one of them days huh?” I ask..

The boy let out a a long drawn out sigh and shakes his head. “Sure has.”

“Well then you can get a drink, on me. One condition though.”

“And what might that be?”

“I ain’t gonna buy you a drink if I don’t even know your name first.”

The boy let out a small nervous chuckle. “I’m Lenny, and you are?”

“Star, or that’s what people call me anyway.”

“Well Star, how about that drink?”

The night went on as you stay and chat with the boys for a few more drinks.

“You said my buddy Arthur here saved you from a bear.” said Lenny. You were all now sitting at a small round table. 

“He did.”

“Where were you when you were attacked, I ain’t seen many bears around Valentine.”

“East of here, and a bit north. Not sure exactly where, I’m not very familiar with the area outside of Lemoyne.”

“We were in the Eastern Grizzlies,” Arthur interrupts.

“Damn Arthur, what were you doing way out there?”

“Headed out with Hosea. He had heard of a big bear out that way. Wanted to try his luck hunting it. Didn’t last long though, he headed back after it nearly took his head off. I decided to track it down after he left, that’s when I saw it about to eat her.” He nods his head towards me at the end of his sentence.

“So you’re from Lemoyne?” asks Lenny.

“Yes,” you reply.

“And just a few days ago you were in the East Grizzlies?”

You give a quick nod in response.

“Now you’re out here in Valentine. Why are you here, are you running from something?”

They both eyed me carefully as they waited for me to answer. Arthur tapped his finger on the table, Lenny crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat.

“Well…” you pause to think for a moment, unsure of how to answer. You were running, you had been, but you didn’t know what from. Maybe you were running toward something, maybe you just didn’t know what yet.

As you glanced up, they were still eyeing you, impatiently.

“Well,” you sigh, “I suppose you can say I’m running. Not sure what from anymore. I use to run around Lemoyne for a while, got tired of that. Needed a change something different. I started headed up north for a while, that’s when I ran into Mr. Callahan here.” You pointed to him as you said his name, but he gave no response. “I had been camped up there for a few weeks, and being from the south I was not a fan of the weather up there. Too cold, and I guess the bear attack was the last straw for me. I packed up my things this morning and headed this way.”

They looked at each other, they seemed satisfied with your answer.

“Where you headin’ off to?” Arthur asked.

“I ain’t too sure. No where any further north thats for sure. Thinking of headin’ out west, or maybe I’ll try my luck of livin’ somewhere civilized again.”

“Most who go west ain’t looking for civilization.”

“No, suppose not, but I’ve heard of a town out in West Elizabeth. Called Blackwater, thinking of headed out there.”

Arthur and Lenny shared a worried glance with each other.

“Either of you ever been out there?” you ask curiously. 

“Blackwater?” Arhur asked.

“Yeah, or just out west in general I suppose.”

“I ain’t ever been to Blackwater, not sure if I’ve ever even heard of it really. Have you Lenny?”

“Not that I can recall, been out west a few times though.” Lenny said shaking his head. “When you headin’ out that way?”

“Well I plan on leaving in the morning. I’m stayin’ in the hotel across the road tonight. Speaking of I really should get going.”

“Nice to meet you Star”

“You too Lenny, and nice to see you again Mr. Callahan.”

Arthur waved as you rise up from my chair. You overhear a bit of his and Lenny’s conversation as you head to the door, they are going to get another drink.

You awoke in the middle of the night, alerted by the sound of yelling in the street. Quickly you hurry over to your window that overlooks the road to see what was going on. Looking out into the dark, you can just barely make out two familiar outlines, Arthur and Lenny. Its difficult to see clearly out into the dark street, but from what you are able to tell the two were a drunken mess. 

You shake head as you head back to bed. 

“I wonder what those two got up too after I left?” Your mind wanders to the endless possibilities as you drift off to sleep.

You woke up pretty early the next morning, the sun just now peeking over the horizon as you headed outside. 

“Good morning Bella” you say running your fingers through her main. “You ready to go on another long ride today.” 

You go around to pull myself up into the saddle, when you overheard a conversation that catches your interest.

Two men who you recognized seeing last night in the saloon. 

“Ya hear they arrested those two men last night.” one said.

“Which ones?”

“The one who nearly beat Tommy to death the other day, and some friend of his.”

“They beat someone again?” the other man asked.

“Nah, heard they tried to drown some fella though”

A gut feeling somewhere inside you tells you they were talking about Arhur and Lenny. My curious nature came over me as you turn Bella down the road and headed to the jail. After hitching Bella across the road at the gunsmith, you headed over to the jail.

“How can I help you ma’am?” asked the man sitting at the desk sounding a bit annoyed.

Looking up you saw Arhur and Lenny each in their own cells. Both appeared to be passed out from the night before. 

“Them two in the cells. What did they do?”

“Drunken violence, there’s a fine for that here in this town.” he replied.

“So all they got to do is pay the fine and they’re free to go?”

“That’s typically how it works. Gotta wait on them to wake up though.”

“How much?”

“Huh?”

“How much is their fine?” you ask.

“10 dollars for the both of them.”

“Here.” You say as you reach down into your bag, slamming the cash down onto the table. “This should cover it.”

The man counted the cash, and you turn to head out the door. A few drinks and 10 dollars counts y’all even for saving your life. 

You pull yourself up onto Bella and are about to ride off when you the door of the jail swing open. Looking over you see Arthur and Lenny stumbling out the door. 

“Who ya think paid to get us out?” asks Lenny, holding onto the wooden column for balance.

Before Arthur could reply Lenny leans over and throws up in the street. Arthur shakes his head at the boy.

You turn on my horse riding past the jail. 

“Good morning boys!” You call out to them. “Lovely day isn’t it.” 

Neither of them seemed amused by your comment, though Arthur offers a friendly wave as you rode past.

“Guess it was probably her.” You hear him say to Lenny as you head off down the road.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------  
Notes. This Section changes it up shortly to a P.O.V. that follows Arthur  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Arthur and Lenny decided to set up a small campfire outside of town before heading back to camp at horseshoe overlook. 

“Want something to eat?” Arthur asks Lenny, rummaging through his satchel.

“If it comes from that bag, no. I seen you pull out all kinds of shit out of there. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if you had some kind of actual shit in there.”

They both shared a laugh and the young mans smart comment. 

“Suit yourself,” Arthur sighed as he pulls out a can of beans from his bag. He had never really considered what all he put in his bag. He just knew it all seemed to somehow fit. 

After a few hours of conversation and sobering up the two men decided it was time to head back to camp.

“Hey Arthur I was thinking, you think we should tell Dutch about Star.”

“What you mean?” asked the outlaw as he mounts his horse.

“She’s headed to Blackwater,” he replies in a hushed tone looking around to make sure no one else was near. “She knows you, and now she knows me and she knows we’re somewhere around Valentine. That could be a big tip off to the law if she finds out who we are and tells.”

“Shit. I didn’t think about that.”

“Shit is right. Why I’m thinking we should warn Dutch, see if he thinks we need to do anything about it.” He said as they began to ride off.

“You ain’t talking about killin’ the poor girl are ya?”

“What? No! Who do you think I am Micah? No just a good talking to is what I had in mind.”

“Let’s go see what Dutch thinks.” Arthur nodded as he spurred his horse to a gallop toward camp.

The two quickly arrive at camp, wasting no time to head to Dutch’s tent. They found him sitting inside speaking with Hosea, about possible plans for the gangs next big move.

“Ahh, Arthur, Lenny, there you two are! Come in we were just discussing some interesting plans, and this one is gonna be good trust me.” Greeted Dutch, in an unusually good mood.

Lenny was the first to speak up, “Actually Dutch we got something we needed to speak with you about. We ran into someone last night while we were out.”

The look on Dutch’s fell immediately fell, from joy to a sour expression. “Close the tent, no need more people known than those who need to.”

Athur turned around and untied the strings that were holding the flaps of cloth back closing off the tent from the rest of the camp.

“What did you do this time Arthur?” asked Hosea, in a half serious half joking tone.

“I ain’t done nothing!” the man defended himself. “Besides the gettin’ arrested part.” He mumbled, though not as quiet as he had hoped.

“What did you two do?” asked Hosea more serious this time, rising to his feet at Arthurs second comment. “Gettin’ arrested ain’t exactly laying low like we’re supposed to be.”

“Now now Hosea.” Dutch said also Standing up next to the man placing his hand on his shoulder. “Lets let the boys explain their side of the situation, and we’ll decide what needs to be done.”

“Well,” Arthur began, “it has a bit of a back story first, you remember we went to hunt that bear?”

The old man standing with his arms crossed, simply nodded in response.

“That's where it all starts.”

Arthur and Lenny spent the next few minutes telling Hosea and Dutch everything that happened. From how it began with Arthur saving a girl he did not know from being eaten by a bear, to running into them last night, getting arrested, and how she paid their fine this morning before riding off toward Blackwater.

Lenny was the last to speak. “That’s why I thought we should tell ya Dutch. She’s headed to Blackwater, and she knows me and Arthur. What if she sees our bounty posters, and tells the law she saw us up here in Valentine.”

Dutch pondered for a moment, humming under his breath. “Boy’s, we need to find this girl and make sure she won’t talk. Lenny you stay here and take over guard duty, Arthur you head out with Charles and Javier. Find the girl, and bring her back here. I just want to have a talk with her is all I promise.”  
“On it Dutch.” They said in unison as they rose to their feet and headed out of the tent.

Charles and Javier were both sitting by a campfire in silence. Javier strumming on the strings of his guitar, Charles making more arrows for his bow. 

“There you are Arthur, Dutch was wondering when you’d be back,” said Javier, he stops playing his guitar as he saw him approaching.

“Got back a little bit ago, Lenny too. Y’all busy? Dutch has got a job for us.”

“Where are we heading?” asked Charles setting aside his work.

“Long story I’ll explain more on the way. There’s a girl headed toward Blackwater, she knows me and Lenny. We got to catch her before she gets too far, Dutch wants to make sure she won’t talk.”

“Hate to say it, but she headed out of Valentine early this morning, she’s got a bit of a head start on us.”

“This morning? She could be halfway there by now.” Said Charles as he climbed onto Taima.

“I know, we got a chance though. She ain’t from here, said she wasn’t all that familiar with the area. I she may have got turned around somewhere.”

Javier interrupted the conversation, “Look if we got to find this girl we’re wasting time sittin’ here and talking about her. We can talk while we ride.”

The group rode hard headed toward the Dakota River. 

“Which way you think she went?” Javier asked the group.

“Someone not familiar with the area no telling. Seems to me she’s got two main options. Head west to Strawberry then get directions to go south or head south and maybe end up stopping at Riggs Station for more directions.” Charles said with a look of thought on his face.

“I ain’t going to Strawberry.” Arthur Interrupted “I’ve got something to do there later, can’t be seen around town too much.”

“We could split up.” Charles suggested. “I could head to Strawberry and ask around to see if she was there.”

The group agreed to that plan, Charles would head into strawberry, while Arthur and Javier would head toward riggs station. Arthur made sure to give Charles a detailed description of Star before he headed off. The group was to meet up up the Upper Montana River crossing, after hopefully finding the girl. 

Arthur and Javier rode toward Riggs Station in silence. The sound of galloping hooves filled the air around them. Both of them were unsure if they would actually find the girl. She could have gone off in any direction, maybe she didn’t stop and ask for directions anywhere. Maybe she managed to get to Blackwater already. They knew if that happened they would probably never find her. The fate of the gang would rely on the hope she didn’t realize who Arthur and Lenny really were and set the law on them all.

As they came up to the station, Javier broke the silence.

“Do you think we'll actually find her?” 

“No idea.”

“What will we do if we don’t”

“That’ll probably be up to Dutch, she may not even figure it out.”

“But if she does and she talks. Then we are screwed my friend.”

“Lets just ask the man up here at the station if he’s seen her.”

The two men dismounted their horses and hitched them nearby before approaching the station.

“Excuse me sir,” said Arthur as he approached the window station.

The man inside the stations booth jumped at the sound of Arthur’s voice “Ah, yes, how can I help you sir? You here to pick something up, mail off a letter?”

“No just got a few questions for ya real quick if you don’t mind. See, my buddy and I here we’re looking for a friend of ours, heard she came out this way,” Arthur began describing Star to the man asking if anyone with that description came by today and perhaps stopped to ask for directions.

The man in the window pondered for a moment. “No not that I can recall. Sorry boys.”

“Damn, well thanks anyway,” Arthur gave the man a friendly nod as he turned to get back onto his horse.

“Let's hope Charles is having better luck than we are.”

Arthur gave no response only nodded in agreement as the two rode off again toward where they were supposed to meet up with Charles.

They arrived just a few minutes before they saw Charles and Taima coming down the road. 

“I got something, the butcher in town said he think saw her ride into town earlier today. He didn’t see her leave, so she’s either still there or she got past him.”

“You talk to anybody else?” Asked Arthur.

“Tried to, didn’t get anything though. There’s something off about the people in that town.”

“Shit. if Micah somehow hears we’re snooping around Strawberry and not busting him out no telling what he’ll do.”

“I know, we can’t seem too suspicious otherwise people will start talking. Word travels fast in a small town like that. Besides we don’t even know if she’s still there,” interrupted Javier. “For all we know she could have headed back toward Valentine.”

“Nah, she seemed pretty serious when she said this is where she was heading. She stayed in Valentine last night at the hotel, maybe she’s staying in Strawberry tonight.”

The group spent some time discussing possibilities of what they could do, which was made more challenging by Arthur not being able to head into Strawberry and the town still being on edge. Eventually the group came up with a plan, Javier was to ride back to camp to give Dutch an update on what they knew so far, Charles would return to Strawberry head to the hotel and try to look for her there, and Arthur would stick around riding the trails north of the river keeping an eye out for her.

Javier was the first to leave to head back to camp. Charles and Arthur stuck around to figure out a meeting point. The two agreed to meet back at Riggs Station around sundown, with or without Star.


	2. Horseshoe Overlook pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little update I realized I spelled Micah wrong because I'm dummy who spells at a third-grade level even though I am a full grown adult, but I fixed it so don't worry okay. It's finneeeeeeeee

That night in Valentine was some of the best sleep you had gotten in a while. Treating yourself to an actual bed for the night was a nice change, so nice that when you came upon the next little town you couldn’t resist another night in a real bed. Besides you were in no big hurry to get anywhere, might as well enjoy the journey a bit more. 

You hitch Bella outside the building that read “Trackers Hotel” and make your way inside to book a room for the night.

You speak to the man at the front desk, who seemed more than happy to help you out, maybe a little too happy. This is an odd little town you thought. 

After booking the room you make small conversation with the man, asking for things to do in town. You had noticed there was no saloon or place to really get a drink in town, there had to be something else to do here.

“Well there are some trails north of town you could go out riding on if you enjoy the outdoors,” He informed you.

“Where do they lead?” you ask.

“Well depends which one you take, my personal favorite goes north west of town to a little lake, Owanjila, it's a real good fishing spot too.”

“We’ll I’m not much of a fisherman.”

The man gave you a small laugh. “I’m not either, but I’m telling you that lake is full of fish some of the biggest smallmouth bass i’ve ever seen.”

“Thank you, I may just have to check it out while I’m in town,” you said as you began to head back toward the door.

“You know where to find me if you need anything else.” He said with a wave.

You exit the building into the crisp mountain air. The west grizzlies had proven to already be colder than the east had, you knew there was no way you were going to stay here for longer than one night. You walk over and unhitch Bella from the post by the stairs. Out of boredom, and a little curiosity to maybe see these large fish, you head out of town up a little path north west of town.

You were never much of a fisher, not that you couldn’t do it. You just never really enjoyed fishing all that much, so you didn’t plan to do much if any fishing once you arrived at the lake. 

You came up on the lake after following the path around a large curving rock face. You come to a stop at the top of the hill that overlooks the lake, pausing to take in the scenery. The sun still high in the sky, as it was still early afternoon, the wind causing the rustling of the leaves in the trees and small waves across the lakes surface. You notice a few mallard ducks sitting calmly by the shore, if you didn’t still have plenty of that bear left you may have considered taking a shot at them. 

You lean forward letting out a small sigh, the world up here was so peaceful, so beautiful, and so calm. Existing as if you weren’t even there. You were always drawn to the beauty of scenes like this. They reminded you of a painting that used to hang up in your childhood home, of a herd of deer drinking from somebody of water with snowy mountains in the distant background. You use to stare at it and try to recreate it on any old scrap of paper you could find. 

You wish you had some paper now to draw the picture that was right in front of you. You use to carry a small notebook that you would fill with drawings of landscapes you would come across on your journeys. But after you filled your last one up you haven’t bothered to purchase another. 

You quickly lose track of time, staring over the lake watching the occasional fish flop up to the surface, ducks coming and going as they please. Lost in your thoughts about your past, and the path you took to end up here in the place right now. Somewhere so far from home, if anyone a year ago had told you this is where you would be now you would have called them crazy.

The sun had by now significantly lowered in the sky, it would be dark in just a few hours. You were now sitting down on the shore of the lake dipping your hands in the crisp cool water, while Bella was helping herself to a drink just a few feet away from you. 

“I guess we should head back now Bella,” you say as you dry your hand off on the skirt of your dress. 

You mount your horse and head back into town. You take your time on the path back to town, still feeling connected to the beauty of the nature in this area. Perhaps you could look past the cold and stick around here a while longer. The thought crossed your mind, but you quickly shook it off. 

When you arrive back in town you decide to just head back up to your room to get an early start on the day. You hitch your horse by the stairs like you had before, stopping to pet her nose before heading inside. The man at the front desk gives you a wave and offers up a short friendly conversation before you head up to your room. You thank him for telling you about the lake and tell him how beautiful you find this area to be, before wishing him a good afternoon and heading up stairs. 

Exhausted you plop onto the bed without even bothering to stop and take off your shoes first. I day spent riding is always a long day, and you had to do it again tomorrow. You reach over to your bag to pull out a pack of crackers to have as a small dinner, as you weren’t feeling very hungry that day. 

You were about to head to bed early, just getting ready to start taking off your shoes when you hear a knock on your door. 

You jump at the sound, startled. You didn’t expect anyone to come up here, perhaps they simply have the wrong room you thought to yourself as you cautiously approach the door. A woman traveling on her own could never be too careful, you grabbed your old hunting knife out of your bag before peeking out of the door.

Outside was a tall dark man, who you had never seen before. “Who, who are you what do you want?” your voice shakes as you speak.

The man standing outside the door can clearly tell you are worried, as he takes a step back and raises his hands up before he speaks. “I’m not here to hurt you, I just need to talk are you Star?”

You open the door a little wider the knife still in your hand. “That depends who’s asking?”

The man makes eye contact with you hands still raised up by his shoulders. “I’m Charles, a friend of Arthur’s, you know him don’t you?”

“The man from Valentine? I’ve ran into him a few times why?” You were growing more and more confused by this situation. When you first met Arthur you had a feeling there was something going on with him. You quickly forgot about that feeling when you ran into him again last night, but this was bringing it all back. 

“Look, I know this will seem odd, but I need you to come with me.”

With those last few words you pulled up your knife, showing the man you were armed. You didn’t trust strangers all that much. You trusted Arthur more than you had trusted anyone you had met in a while, but considering he saved your life it seemed fair. This man had simply showed up at your hotel door claiming to know Arthur, that you did not trust.

“How did you know where to find me, y’all stalking me, is that why you ended up in Valentine as the same time as me?”

“What? No, listen to me, I’m not here to hurt you. Me and Arthur want to help you, he told me you were heading out west I looked here and saw you outside with your horse a while ago.”

“Sounds like a stalker to me.”

“Listen I don’t want to hurt you, but I need you to come with me one way or another. We’ll go meet up with Arthur, he can explain more when we get there.”

“Why didn’t he come here and get me himself,” you ask, still not trusting this man or the circumstances of this situation at all.

“It’s a long story. It’s all a long story, look this wasn’t my idea it wasn’t his idea either. But trust me, things could be much worse for you than me being sent here after you.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” you ask raising your knife again.

“Look I can’t explain here, but please make this easier on everyone and just trust me. If I wanted to hurt you I would have already done it by now” He said in a calm voice slowly lowering his hands. “Please just come with me, and we can get this over with you can go on your way tomorrow and act like none of this ever happened.” 

You slowly lower your knife, he looks and sounds sincere. You’re not sure why, maybe because you're some kind of fool, but you agree to leave with the man. You grab your things and head out the door and back down the stairs. 

Charles walks quickly in front of you, almost leaving you behind. “Get on your horse, and follow behind me closely we need to get going.”

“Where are we heading?” you ask as you climb onto your horse.

“First we have to go meet up with Arthur, then you just need to follow us.”

You felt uneasy with his unclear and sharp answers. You wouldn’t have agreed to come if this is how he spoke to you in the hotel. He probably knew that, you thought, but now that he’s gotten you to come this far he figures you’ll come with him anyway.

You’re not sure if that is what was really going through his head, but if it was he was right. Followed behind him closely, the two of you moving along at a quick pace. You had no idea where you were going, at first you seemed to be going back to Valentine, he led you down a road that headed south instead of continuing east.

You came up to a small train station where a familiar man sat waiting for the two of you to arrive. Your mind is full of questions, you crave answers to know what’s going on here. You and Charles ride past Arthur who takes a place riding behind you for most of the trip. The three of you remain silent, the air around you feeling tense and awkward. 

It’s going to be okay, you’re going to be okay, you keep telling yourself those words over and over again. If either of these men wanted to hurt you they would have already. You continued to tell yourself these thoughts in an attempt to stay calm, not that they proved to be much help. 

You had been riding for a while now, the path lit by the full moon that hung high in the night sky. You usually enjoyed a late night ride, but these were unusual circumstances. The forested mountains of West Elizabeth, became the rolling hills and grasslands of New Hannover. 

Charles shows his horse and turns onto a small overgrown pathway. “Stay close, don’t say anything,” he tells you.

You don’t respond, simply doing as you were told. You followed closely behind heading in behind Charles. Looking ahead you see the light of a campfire burning, but the trees make it difficult to make out many more details. As you get closer you can see more of the clearing, tents are pitched and a few wagons fill the camp. Charles hitches his horse just inside the camp, you do the same. That’s when you get your first good look at the place. You see a group of girls sitting together under a tent staring at you whispering amongst themselves, a woman sitting on the other side of the camp ushers a little boy inside a tent not bothering to look in your direction.

The walk across the camp wasn’t a particular far one but you could feel, all the curious eyes on you. Staring you down, judging you, wondering who you were, why were you here? You had many of the same questions as them. You finally make it across camp when you reach the largest tent, Charles holds his hand up signaling for you to stop, Arthur catches up and stands beside you. Charles sticks his head inside the doorway of the tent, muttering something to someone inside before leading you inside.

Inside you see a well dressed man in a red and black vest, dark hair, and a mustache. He motions for you to take a seat across from him before he began to speak in a very charismatic voice. “I’m sure you have many questions,” he began. “But allow me to introduce myself first. I’m Dutch Van der Linde, perhaps you may have heard of me before.” He reaches out to shake your hand as he finishes his sentence.

You accept his head shake, “I’m sorry, I don’t think I know that name. I’m not from here.”

“Oh I know, you’re from Lemoyne. Arthur here told me a bit about you earlier today, before I sent him and Charles here out to come get you.”

“Why did you do that?” You interrupt, you hadn’t meant to interrupt the man but you couldn’t hold in the questions that were filling your brain any longer.

The look on Dutch’s face changed, but only for a brief moment for seemed angry and annoyed, before quickly putting a smile back on his face. “Because, you see you are important to us. You know my friend Arthur here pretty well, you event spent some time with Lenny, and now you know Charles along with myself. Now, I don’t want to keep you here long, I want to let you go on your way before morning. Do you think we can work that out?”

“I hope so,” you have never been more confused in your life. He was the one who wanted you brought here, but he wants to be able to let you go. None of this was making any sense.

“A little birdie told me you were headed to Blackwater, is that true?”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

“That also makes you an important person I want to talk to, see me and my friends here we were all in Blackwater just a few weeks ago. Surely you heard about what happened there?”

“I saw something about a robbery in an old newspaper I found in Valentine, is that what you mean.”

“Yes, you see my friends and I here, we well were not good folk. We ain’t monsters like some, but we’re no saints. We robbed a ferry boat in town a few weeks back.”

You sat their silent, unable to say a word. This man sitting across from you, these people here in this camp, Arthur the man who saved your life who you ran into in the Saloon are all criminals, outlaws. You felt a wave of conflicting emotions, confusion, anger, but most of all fear. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Well as you may expect, our faces are all over Blackwater, Arthur’s included.” he said nodding to Arthur, who hasn’t spoken a word all night. “We just wanted to talk with you, come to some sort of agreement to make sure you won’t recognize my friend here on a bounty poster and run to the law telling them you saw him out by Valentine just a few days ago. This is a risky business, and that is a risk we can’t afford.”

“They must be offering a good price for everyone here if you brought me out here to promise I won’t tell.’

‘Well, it’s no pocket change we can leave it at that.” Dutch said with a bit of dry humor in his voice.

You paused for a moment, thinking, you doubt you would have said anything in the first place if they had never brought you here. A smile came to your face as you thought of an idea. Seeing as they brought you through all this trouble causing you to backtrack this far on your trip, it was only fair that you got something out of it in return.

“Okay Dutch, I’ll make a deal with you,” you tell the man with a sly smile on your face.

He lets out a small chuckle, as he reads the look on your face. “And what may that be.”

“You said you robbed that boat, so you can steal from people right?”

He looked over his shoulder at Arthur and Charles, the three exchanging curious looks. “If they deserve it, or have something worth taking.”

“Someone took something from me a while back, something important. You get that for me you get my silence in exchange.”

Dutch studies you for a few moments, clearly thinking it over. He had no idea what you wanted, maybe he was wondering if it would be less work to just kill you he’d be guaranteed your silence then. “Alright, on a few conditions. Until this little robbery takes place you will live here at the camp, like everyone else here you’ll help out where you can. Once this is over you’re free to go if you wish.”

“Deal.” you firmly state.

A smile creeps across his face, “Good, I’m glad we could come to an agreement. Arthur, show her to the girls tent, she can sleep there for tonight we can see about other arrangements in the morning.”

You rise to your feet, following Arthur out of the tent where he stood waiting for you before leading you to the girls. “You’re getting yourself into more than you may realize,” he warns with an unusual harshness in the tone of his voice.

“Well, the way I see things Mr. Calla-.”

“Morgan,” he harshly cuts you off before you can finish your sentence. “My real name’s Arthur Morgan.”

“If I can’t even trust you all to tell me your real names how can I trust you to hold up your end of the deal?” you ask stopping in your tracks.

Arthur stops and turns to you, “Say’s the one who goes by Star. Listen girl, I just don’t think you thought this through very well. You don’t know our situation.” His voice grew harsher as his words went on.

“I ain’t just some little girl, I ran on my own for six months before I ever met you the first time. I can hold my own just fine! I know who you are, but what’s done is done, I've made a choice and I keep my promises when I make them. I hope I can trust you to to same. Now I would like to just go to bed, please.”

Arthur opens his mouth to respond, but just shakes his head before showing you where the rest of the girls were sleeping. He waved you a goodnight before walking off to his own tent. The girls tent were where the three girls who you had seen upon arriving to camp were staying. They offer you an awkward smile and pass you a small blanket before going back to talking amongst themselves. 

You lie down on the cold hard ground, a much different feeling than the mattress you were expecting to be sleeping on tonight. Arthur’s words echoed in your mind, Your getting yourself into more than you may realize. What does he know, he’s just a liar who gave you a fake name, who tracked you down because he thought you may rat him out after meeting him twice. Little girl, if anyone here is a little girl it’s him.

\-------------------------

You wake up the next morning with a sore back from the hard unforgiving ground. You wish you would have got to sleep on that hotel mattress last night. Though it was early, the camp was already beginning to come alive, as people start their day. A group gathered around a small fire making coffee, one of the girls getting a start on some laundry, while a few others were still sleeping. 

You aren’t sure what to do, coffee sounds nice, but you don’t want to intrude. You feel out of place. You look over to Dutch’s tent where you notice him standing outside speaking with an older woman. Judging the look they give in your direction they must be talking about you. You quickly jerk your head back forward, wanting to seem like you are minding your own business. 

You know these people are outlaws, but now you were staying in their camp with them. Did that make you an outlaw too? You haven’t broken the law. You weren’t a thief, well there was that one time when you were little and you stole a candy bar from a shop in Saint Denis. Your mother was so angry with you when she found out what you had done. She made you sleep outside that night, an odd punishment but you never did it again. 

“Ms. Star, come over here!” Dutch’s voice ringing across camp grabs your attention away from your thoughts. You look over and see him still standing there with that woman. You could tell by the look on her face she was someone you did not want to cross, but really was anyone here someone you would want to mess with.

“Star, allow me to introduce you to Miss Grimshaw,” Dutch says. “She’ll be giving you some chores to do while you are staying with us.”

Miss Grimshaw stares you down with a stern look on her face, arms crossed. “What do you know how to help out with?”

“I can do lots of things, I can clean, do laundry, help cook, even hunt. You see I ran on my own for a while, I had to be able to do a lot of things,” you tell her trying to put on a confident sounding voice.

“Well then, a jack-of-all-trades aren’t you,” she paused for a moment. “Here come with me we can see if Person needs any help. Maybe you can do something about his God awful cooking.”

She leads you to a wagon in the middle of camp stocked with some basic food supplies, some canned vegetables, cans of baked beans, a few packets of crackers, nothing too special. You are introduced to Person, who you learn in the camp chef in charge of making the stew for camp. 

He seems pleased to have someone to help him, apparently you aren’t the only new person in camp, and more mouths to feed means more work for the cook. You quickly get to work chopping vegetables, while Person quickly begins to tell you his life stories. You learn he was in the navy for a while, though many of his other stories he tell you seem a bit far fetched. Still you listen, and ask questions about other people in the camp to try and get a feel for who’s who.

\-----------------------

A few days passed, and not much has changed in your daily routine. You wake up, drink some coffee with the girls, who you now know as Mary-Beth, Tilly, Karen, and Abigail who occasionally joins, cut up vegetables, manage to sneak a way for a short break that you usually spend caring for Bella, then head back to help finish up dinner, and cleaning up after. 

You haven’t really spoken to Dutch since the night you arrived. You begin to worry if he had no intention of keeping his end of the deal, or if he was simply drawing it out as long as possible to keep a watchful eye on you as long as he could. You haven’t spoken to Arthur much either, you learn he is one of Dutch’s right hand men and gets sent out to do jobs away from camp pretty often. He came back from a job just a day after you arrived, furious going on about someone shooting up the whole town of Strawberry. 

It was odd how if just one thing in your life had changed things would be so different for you and you never would have ended up here. What if you had never ran off to be on your own, never left Lemoyne, didn’t go out hunting that day, or didn’t leave for Valentine, or not headed to Strawberry until a day later? Thoughts like this filled your mind a lot, those “what if?” questions that could change everything in a single moment. 

“Hey, Star you got a minute?”

You look up to see Charles standing in front of you. Even though he was one of the people who brought you here in the first place you liked him. He seemed kind, he obviously could have grabbed you and drug you to Dutch against your will, but he didn’t. There are some here who you sure would have knocked you out and threw you over the back of their horse to get you back here if it was them who had come after you.

“Sure, I just have a few more of these carrots to chop then I can take a break,” you say as you continue with your work. “Why? Something going on?”

“Dutch wants to speak with you, we have a few big things coming up. I think he wants to get started planning your robbery too. Just find him when you’re done,” he says as he turns and walks away.

Finally, finally, finally, finally. It’s all you could think. You were going to be able to get your stuff back, then head on your way. You couldn’t help but smile as you finished chopping the last of the carrots at record speed.

Your conversation with Dutch is quick and to the point. Making plans is something Dutch seems to take seriously, and with being in charge of a gang this size you can understand why. If one person goes off and does the wrong thing the whole group could fall apart, or be picked up by lawmen one by one. He mentions their current plans to get a gang member back, Sean, who had been caught after the robbery in Blackwater. After they get Sean back they’ll start work on your robbery. “Now that you’re caught up a bit, I need to know who are we robbing and what exactly is it that you want back?”

“Well it’s a bit of a long story, but I don’t need to go into it all right now. This person, she was a good friend of mine her name’s Evelyn. I had known her my whole life, that is until she took everything from me right out from under me. I was a damn fool for not seeing the truth sooner.”

“Now Star, I am willing to help you get a few items back, but ‘everything’ quite a tall order you realize.”

You nod, “I know, I can’t get everything back most of what she took from me I don’t even want anymore.”

“Then what is it that you do want?”

“Just a few small items, I had this little jewelry box that was my mother’s. It has a necklace and some bracelets in it what was hers too. I want those back.”

“So your mother's jewelry, I didn’t take you for the sentimental type. No worries that would be something we could take care of.”

“I want one more thing,” you quickly add, before the conversation could move on.

Dutch looks up at you, curiously. “And that is?”

“My… Well her ring,” you say in a firm voice. 

Dutch lets out a small chuckle while muttering something to himself under his breath. “Anything else?”

“No,” You shake your head. “My friend, she was always one who had an eye out for nicer things she surely has plenty more jewelry and items of value for the taking.”

“It would seem you’re starting to think like a real outlaw Star,” Dutch laughs. “If this goes well, you may get the chance to stick around.”

“You’ve kept me here long enough. I’ll be well on my way when I get the opportunity, thank you,” you say looking Dutch in the eye with a firm confident voice.

“You say that like we're keeping you hostage here.” Dutch said crossing his arms.

“I was forced to come here, and now I’m not allowed to leave. What else would you call that,” you say in a sharp snapping tone.

Your comment clearly angered Dutch, “If memory serves me correctly Ms. Star, you agreed to come here with Charles, he did not force you, and my intentions were to let you leave the next morning, you are the one who chose to stay here. However, if you so desire, we could tie you up next to that O’Driscoll boy out there if you’re a ‘hostage’ here as you say.”

“But you don’t deny that you are keeping me here.” 

“Those were the terms of our deal. You stay here with us and help out until this robbery.”

“And when will that be?” you ask.

“Can’t you see that’s what I’m trying to figure out.” Dutch said to you, you could hear the stress in his voice. “I did not bring you here to start an argument with you. I brought you here to work on a plan, if you cannot do that you will be stuck with us for a very long time.”

“Then what do you need to know?” you said, in a much calmer tone. You knew better than to push your luck with this man. You didn’t want to give him any more reasons to tie you to a tree.

Your conversation with Dutch lasts long into the night, you chose your words very carefully to not start any more potential arguments. You lay out every detail you can think of, even sketching out a picture of the box and the ring to make it easier for other gang members to recognize them. Telling Dutch that the last you heard she was running off to somewhere up by Emerald Ranch along with her new husband after taking all your stuff, and gave a detailed description on who to look for. 

“Good, this is good. I’ll have Hosea do little digging, but I think we can pull this off. If you were right about her taste for the finer things I’m sure we could manage to get a decent take too. Now Star one more thing before you go.”

“Yes?” you ask slightly puzzled. What else could he want to know, you had gone over every little detail you could think of about Everlyn. Even the ones that you failed to see as relevant. 

“You understand you will be joining us on this little robbery of yours,” Dutch began, he spoke slowly as if he was still thinking about what he was going to say next. “I can’t just send you in there not knowing what you are or aren’t capable of.” 

You nod along, not wanting to interrupt his train of thought.

“After we get Sean back we have a few things lined up. Javier is working on a home robbery, could be similar to yours I want you to join him and Arthur to see what you can handle. If it goes well you may get to join in on a few more jobs, until it’s time for yours.”

“Okay, I can talk to him in the morning an-.,” You start, but Dutch quickly lifts up his hand to stop you from finishing your sentence.

“He’s away working on getting Sean back. Wait until after we get Sean back, then we can shift our attention to these other matters. Right now we need to focus.”

“Of course, I understand. Thank you Dutch, for helping me get my stuff back, it means a lot.”

Dutch rises to his feet guiding you to the exit of his tent, “No it is I who should be thanking you. You could be really helping us out here, this seems like a simple job with a decent take. It is just what we need.”

Those were his final words to you as you head back over to the girls tent where you had been staying. Dutch told you you could pitch your own tent in camp since you had one, but you just never seemed to get around to it. Both Tilly and Karen were already asleep, Mary-Beth was reading one of her books by a lantern she was using for light.

“You were in there with Dutch for a long time,” she says to you without looking up from the pages.

“Yeah, he wants to get started working on that robbery he promised to help me with.”

“Oh,” she sounded a bit disappointed to hear that. “I guess that means you’ll be leaving us soon then?”

You look over at Mary-Beth, she was a young sweet girl who reminded you of the little sister you never had. You had grown close to her since you came here, taking turns braiding each others hair before bed, she even offered to let you borrow her book after she finished it. “Well,” you start off softly, “That’s my plan. Dutch did offer to let me stay if things go well.”

“So you’re staying?” she asks excitedly looking up from her book at you. “Oh, please do I’d say the stew has gotten ten times better since you started helping.”

You chuckle, as you pick at a few blades of grass by your side, “Well that’s because I sneak in a few extra things when Person isn’t looking. I don’t think I’m staying though, I don’t belong. I can’t be an outlaw like any of you.”

“Now I know that’s a lie. You told me about that candy bar you took, you criminal mastermind,” She laughed as she spoke, closing her book. “Not everyone here does that stuff, we all have our jobs to do to make sure we survive, and we look out for each other. If you do that you are one of us. So, just think about his offer. It’s dangerous out there on your own, we take care of each other.”

Sighing you lay back onto your bedroll, “Dutch threatened to tie me to a tree, I wouldn’t exactly call that taking care of each other.”

“Don’t listen to him, he wouldn’t do that to you. If he was he would have done it as soon as you got here. Just think about it okay, don’t turn it down just yet.”

“I’ll think about it,” you say pulling your blanket up over yourself. “Just don’t get your hopes up okay.”

“I won’t,” she says as she turns off her lantern and laying down herself. “Goodnight Star.”

“Goodnight Mary-Beth,” you mutter as you quickly drift off to sleep.


	3. Horseshoe Overlook pt. 2

The next morning you woke up following the same routine you had every other day, but today a few noticeable faces were missing around camp. Javier, who was gone to get Sean, along with Arthur and Charles, who you assume are out helping. Karen seems anxious for Sean to return more than anyone else in the camp had been, she jumps up at the slightest of sounds to see if it’s them.

“Morning Hosea,” you greet the old man as you slide into a seat across from him at a small table in camp where he sat reading a newspaper.

He puts the paper down looking up at you, “Ahh, our newest member. How are you this morning.”

“I’m good, you?”

“I’m old, but that won’t change.”

“Hosea, you aren’t that old just a few gray hairs.”

The man chuckles slapping his hand on the table, “I passed that point a long time ago. Suppose I’m lucky not many in this life make it this far.”

You shake your head as you take another sip of your coffee. You have only spoken to Hosea a few times since you got to camp. He seems like a nice man, he asked you if you knew how to read once when he caught you watching him giving Jack lessons. Though you weren’t the fastest or best reader your mother taught you to read when you were young. She thought it was an important skill everyone should know.

“Something on your mind girl?” Hosea asks looking at you with a thoughtful look on his face.

You guess he was right, you kept thinking back to Dutch’s offer. Even though you were sure you would never take it. “Is it that obvious?”

“I may be old, but I’m not a fool.”

“I keep thinking about how I ended up here. First I almost died, then happened to run into Arthur again, and the next thing I knew I was being tracked down and brought back here.”

“How do you feel about being here?”

“Part of me feels like a hostage, but then I see him,” you say gesturing toward Kieran.

The old man’s gaze follows your hand as you point toward Kieran who was slouched over tied to the tree. “Why do you feel that way?” he asked you in a caring voice.

“I just feel like I’m trapped here. I’m not allowed to leave until the robbery. Until then I’m stuck here, and who knows when that will be.” You ask looking down at the table, running your hands over the rough surface that had clearly been worn down over years of use and moving around. 

“You’re use to being out there on your own. When you could go do what you wanted when you wanted, and now that’s been taken away from you.”

“I spent my whole life trying to gain my freedom, and I finally got it. Now I feel like it’s being taken away again.”

Hosea hummed in thought, you could tell by the look on his face he was trying to figure out what you meant by that. “I don’t know about your life before you came to join us, but look around everyone here is free to go whenever they choose.”

“Everyone but me has that choice,” you say picking at an uneven spot on the table.

“You’re in a unique situation, but one day the time will come when you will have the chance to wake up and leave us just like everyone else.”

“Dutch made me another offer, an offer to let me stay here even after the robbery,” you say looking up from the piece of wood you had been messing with. 

“What do you think about that?”

“I don’t know, I like it here but,” your voice trails off unsure of what to say.

“But, you aren’t sure if living with a bunch of outlaws is the life you want.” He says looking across the table directly at you.

You avoid his gaze refusing to look him in the eye, he was right, these people they are outlaws they’ve done bad things took from people, killed them, who knows what else. But they were more than what they had done, you were getting to know them for who they were. Hosea was a wise caring old man, Mary-Beth a sweet girl with her head in the clouds obsessed with stores. They were just doing what they had to to survive, you couldn’t judge them for that.

Hosea goes to pick his newspaper back up off the table, “The world is changing, maybe you would be smart to not get too involved with our kind of life. But you need to make that choice on your own, do what you think is right.”

“Thanks Hosea,” you say as you stand up from your seat now more confused than you were ever before. 

You head over to Persons wagon to start on your chores for the day. Overall it was a normal day, in the camp, despite the feeling of everyone on edge waiting to see when and if they would return with Sean. 

You were cleaning up the dishes after dinner when you heard the galloping a hooves quickly approaching camp. 

“THEY”RE BACK!” a voice rang out, though you were unsure who it belonged to.

Karen was the first one to run and greet the group, mostly just pushing them out of her way to get to Sean. You had heard they had some kind of relationship, though you didn’t know any details. You decide to stick to your, not wanting to force your way into the crowd of people and intrude as everyone welcomed Sean back.

The camp had turned into a party to celebrate his return, but you had made your way over to your bedroll where you sat and watched all the commotion happening. You watched as everyone sat around the fire singing songs without a care in the world. Everything seemed happy in the camp.

“Aren’t you going to join the party?” a voice asked.

You looked up and saw Arthur standing over you, holding out a drink for you.

“I’m not much of a party person.” you say as you accept the drink from his hands as he sits down next to you. “Why aren’t you over there at the party?” you ask.

“I noticed you sitting over here by yourself, I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

“Thanks Arthur, but I’m alright. I think I’ll just stay here for the night.”

“Alright well, I think I’m gonna head back over,” he said rising to his feet.

“Okay,” you say taking a drink from the bottle he gave you. “Have fun.”

You watch as he walks back over to the group, at one point he stops and looks back over his shoulder. You can’t see too well in the dark but he seemed to have some kind of smile on his face, when he turned back around and headed straight to Sean. You watched suspiciously, as he leaned down and whispered something in his ear, them both turning and looking toward you.

Oh here we go, you thought. Sean stumbled to his feet, and staggered his way to you.

“Now what is this I hear about you skipping out on my party?” He asks in a thick Irish accent.

You open your mouth to respond, but you’re cut off before you get the chance.

“No one skips out on Sean McGuire’s party,” he says reaching his hand out to you. 

You take a drink and sigh, reaching up to take his hand as he helps you to your feet. Or he tries to, he stumbles losing his balance nearly falling flat on his face. 

“How much have you had to drink already?” you ask holding back a laugh.

“The night is young, I’m just getting started. Don’t you worry about how much I drink, no one parties like us Irish folk.”

“Is that so?”

“Well, why don’t you come and see for yourself. I’m Sean by the way, sure you already knew that though. I’m pretty famous around here, bet you heard a lot about me while I was gone.” he says leading you back to the group. 

You let out a small laugh, he sure is confident in himself you thought. “They call me Star, nice to meet you Sean I’ve heard a few things about you I’ve only been here for about a week.”

“Well then you need to be getting to know the people in camp, come on we don’t want to miss all the fun now do we.”

The rest of the night was actually pretty fun, filled with songs, stories from the gang members, the air filled with jokes and laughter. For the first time in a while things seemed simple, you felt like you had a place like this was your home. Karen and Sean were all over each other before the night was over, it started with her sitting on his lap as some members of the gang told outlandish stories of some of their greatest accomplishments. Many with fabricated details you were sure. 

Halfway through the night neither Sean or Karen were anywhere to be seen, likely best if it’s that way you assumed. The night began to calm down as many in the gang began to tire out and head to bed, a few just passing out where they were. 

You found yourself ending the night sitting on a log watching the fire as it began to die out, where just a few hours ago it was full of life just as camp had been. You were about to head to bed yourself, when you heard footsteps approaching behind you. You turn around to see Arthur approach behind you. “Hello Arthur.”

“Hi there,” He says taking a seat on the log next to you. 

The air around you felt awkward. This was him, the one who was the reason why you were here, why you felt like some kind of prisoner. A man who lied to you about his own name.

“Why you still up?” you ask to break the silence trying to keep the peace between you two.

“You want the truth?” he asks, taking a sip of his drink.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t lie to me again Morgan,” you stressed his name at the end of your sentence.

He sighed as he ran his hand over his face at your comment, “I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“Why do you care?”

“Well, it’s partly my fault you’re here in this mess-,” he began.

“It is your fault, you told Dutch about me, you told Charles where he could find me. You even rode back with him when I was being brought here, but you didn’t even have the decency to come and get me yourself.”

“Telling Dutch was… uhh actually Lenny’s idea.”

“You were still involved in all of it.” you snap

“I can't deny that,” he says, tossing the empty bottle toward the fire. “You could have gone though, Dutch offered to let you leave the next morning. You made this deal.”

“Everyone loves to remind me of that,” you sigh, looking at where the bottle hand landed. 

You feel Arthur’s eyes staring at you, but you refuse to look at him. “Why did you do it then. What is it that you want so bad.”

“It’s a long story, one I don’t like to relive if I can help it, but an old friend of mine she took everything from me. Right out from under my nose, it was shortly after that that I started running on my own. I realized you never really know who you can trust.”

“So this is some kind of revenge?” 

“I’m just taking back what’s mine. I told Dutch you all can have the rest, sell it keep it either one I don’t care. Call it revenge if you want, but you won’t hear it from me.” you say finally turning to meet his gaze. 

“Dutch always says revenge is a luxury we can’t afford.”

“Well he seems to think this will have a decent pay out.”

Arthur mumbles something under his breath too quiet for you to understand. 

‘Can I ask you something Arthur?” you ask, kicking the dirt around in front of you with the toe of your boots.

“You just did, but I guess you can ask me another question.”

“Why do you stay here, I mean couldn’t you just leave if you wanted to?”

He doesn’t answer your question right away, staring into the embers and dying flames of the campfire. “I guess that’s another long story, but the short version is Dutch picked me up off the street. I was around fifteen at the time, living on the streets I had to steal to survive. He and Hosea, they found me and took me in, I’ve been running with them for damn near twenty years now. This is my life, I guess I could leave, no one could stop me, but where would I go? I ain’t got nowhere else to go.” His words were soft, full of meaning and emotions. 

You felt taken aback, as you stopped messing with the dirt with your boots, you looked over at Arthur and noticed he was still looking away from you. You hadn’t expected that kind of answer, but it had only made you more curious about the camp members, especially Arthur himself. “Have you ever thought about leaving?”

You could hear as he took a deep breath before he answered. “Yeah, I did, long ago.”

“Why didn’t you?”

You must have crossed a line. Arthur quickly sat up straight and looking at you. “Why are you asking all these questions anyway? Why is it your business?” his voice was stern, with a hint of anger.

There was something he didn’t want to talk about, you were sure of that. “I’m sorry, it’s not my business. I just got a lot on my mind I guess.”

He reached into his bag pulling out a cigarette and a match, “No it ain’t. But since you asked me some questions it’s my turn now. What is it that’s on your mind that’s got you asking all these questions?”

“Dutch spoke to me yesterday, said he wants to start making plans for my robbery, but he made me an offer. An offer to maybe let me stay here with y’all if things go well.”

“Well,” smoke rolling out of his mouth as he spoke, “do you want to stay?”

“I feel like a prisoner here Arthur, I’m not given a choice if I want to stay or not like you and everyone. I’m not even allowed to leave the camp to go to town or go out hunting like everyone else.”

“First of all, you ain’t a prisoner, O’Driscoll over there, he now he is a prisoner… well kinda, but my point is you're not the one tied to a tree. Second, who said you can’t leave camp?” he asked before taking another draw of his cigarette.

“I figured it was implied,” you shrug.

“Now I don’t think Dutch would take to kind of you going off on your own, but if you head out with some other folks here I don’t see why that would be a problem. As long as you come back.”

“Really?” you ask trying to hide your excitement. A chance to leave camp, this is what you have been waiting for.

“Sure. I’ll tell you what, in the morning I’ll take you out hunting with me. We need some more meat for the stew.”

A smile grew on your face, you couldn’t believe you were finally getting a chance to get out of camp. Bella will be so excited to get to stretch her legs you thought. “Okay Mr. C-Morgan,” you correct yourself hopefully before he heard your mistake, “you have a deal. On one condition though.”

“And what is that?”

“No bears.”

“I’ll do my best.” he chuckled before rising to his feet tossing the end of his cigarette into what was left of the fire. “I’m heading to bed, be up early we’ll head out just after dawn.”

“Night Arthur,” you wave off to him as he turns and heads to his tent. Part of you was mad at Arthur for all of this, but part of you understood his situation and why he did what he did.

This is all too confusing, you thought, I’m mad at him then I’m not mad. I just need to make up my mind.

That night you barely get any sleep, the thought of getting out of camp fills you with excitement keeping you up.

You awake the next morning jumping to your feet, you’re full of energy despite getting around three hours of sleep the night before. You walk briskly over to make your morning cup of coffee. 

“Morning,” you greet Abigail who is standing against a tree not far from you.

She raises her cup as a wave to you before taking another sip of coffee. “You seem to be in a good mood this morning.” 

“I am, I get to leave camp today finally. I’ve been so cooped up. I just can’t wait,” you say before taking a sip of your own coffee.

“Well that’s real nice. I’m happy for ya.”

“Thank you Abigail, I’m gonna go find Arthur, it should be about time for us to heading out.” You quickly turn around and walk toward the direction of his tent.

You turn the slight corner around Persons wagon and you spot Arthur’s tent on the edge of camp. You notice him standing to the side, his back turned away from you speaking to Strauss. You had never actually spoken to Strauss, he seemed like an odd man who didn’t really seem to fit in with the rest of the gang. You weren’t even exactly sure what he did, you never saw him do any work, he just always seemed to hang around the edge of camp by himself.

You waited for Strauss to walk away before approaching Arthur, you didn’t want to interrupt their conversation. 

Arthur around shortly after Strauss left, he had an unhappy look on his face. Not necessarily angry, but annoyed like the face your cousin use to make when his mom made him share his toys with you.

“Ready to go?” You ask feeling like you could leap for joy.

Arthur looked over his shoulder back at Strauss before answering. “About that…”.

You felt your heart about to crumble into a million tiny pieces as he began his sentence. “We aren’t going anymore?” you blurt out unable to hide the disappointment in your voice. 

“What?” Arthur’s head snaps back around to you, “No. I mean yes, I mean we’re still going. I just got a few jobs to do for Strauss while were out.”

“Oh, you had me worried there for a second,” a sigh of relief washes over you, your heart wasn’t crushed after all. “What do we have to go do?”

“I have to go speak to a man about some money, you will wait on your horse down the road till I get back.” 

The two of you begin to walk across camp to your horses. “You’re saying I don’t even get to help.”

“Trust me,” he shook his head, “this isn’t the kind of job you want in on. We’ll go hunting first anyway, then we’ll head our way up there.”

“And I’ll do what sit and watch the dead deer to make sure it doesn’t get up and run away.”

“Look I understand this is your first time out of camp and you want to help out, but Strauss’s work is nasty work. Even for people like us.”

“What is it that’s so bad?” you ask as he unhitches his horse.

“I’m going to be collecting a debt, from a dying man who probably doesn’t have the money he owes us.”

“So what are you going to do? I mean since they don’t have the money.” You approach Bella, who seems very excited to get a chance to go riding again.

Arthur pulls himself up onto his horse, a brown and white walker, “Nothing nice.”

“You’re gonna kill him?” you ask with a shocked look on your face. 

“What? No! I ain’t gonna kill him. Look you don’t need to worry about it okay. Just get on your horse and lets go.”

You pull yourself onto Bella, and follow Arthur on the small overgrown path that lead out of camp. You rode along quietly trying to shake off the thoughts of what might happen to that poor man later today. It had been just about a week ago when you first came in through here and this was your first time getting to see the outside world again. You couldn’t believe it, you were sure you’d be stuck there forever. 

Soon you were out of the trees, greeted by the wide open grasslands of New Hannover. The warm sun shining down on your face, you felt a feeling of freedom you hadn’t felt in a long time. The one you had spent your whole life searching for.

You aren’t sure what came over you, but you kicked Bella into a gallop running off into the open land. You were overwhelmed with joy feeling the wind on your face, hearing Bella’s hooves beating against the dirt below you, you wished this could last forever.

You heard someone riding up behind you, you turned around to see Arhur chasing after you. 

“What the hell are you doing girl?” he shouts up toward you.

“I’m not running off, I promise.” you yell to him over your shoulder. “Just giving Bella a chance to stretch her legs, she’s been just as cooped up as I have you know.”

He points to a tree over to your left, and quickly turns his horse off in that direction. 

“Way to use your words,” you mutter to yourself. You take a long way around to the tree, circling around the open plain a few more times. You slow Bella down to a trot and head over to the tree where Arthur was waiting for you.

He was standing there with his arms crossed leaning back against the tall oak. “You know a bit of a warning you were going to run off like that would have been nice.” 

“I wasn’t runnin’ off, Bella just needed to stretch her legs. If I was going to run off I would have already made an escape trust me.” You climb down off your horse, reach into your bag and pull out a carrot for her as a treat.

“Right well, leave the horses here. We can go the rest of the way on foot, we’ll be less likely to spook anything off.”

“Where are we heading,” you ask grabbing your rifle off Bella.

“Top of that hill, we’ll get a better look around.” He motions to a tall rocky hill not far from where you were standing.

The two of you make your way to the hill when you remember what Dutch told you about the robbery he wanted you to go on with Javier and Arthur. “So I talked to Dutch the other day.”

“And?”

“And he told me Javier was working on a robbery, a house out somewhere, he wants me to go with him.”

“Does Javier know this?”

“I don’t know I haven’t had the chance to talk to him about it,” you shrug. “But Dutch mentioned he wanted you to go too.”

“Me?” he turns around to you. “Why does he want me to go, Javier could probably take care of the whole thing himself.”

“I don’t know, he said something about seeing what I was capable of before my robbery. I guess he figures it’ll be an easy job to start out on.”

“Ain’t no such thing as an easy job, never is,” he huffs as he turns around back toward the hill. “Come on, we need to get going.”

The rest of the walk to the hill was silent, the only sound was that of the grass below your feet, and chirping birds that fluttered across the sky above you. You reach the top of the hill, overlooking the grassy plains below. They were teaming with life, travelers taking their wagons down the road, rabbits hopping around the bushes, a flock of geese flying through the sky above you, and straight ahead a small herd of deer clueless of your presence. 

“Look right over there,” you whisper to Arthur motioning in their direction.

“Come on, we need to get closer, too far of a shot from here.”

The two of you move swiftly down the hill, luckily this side was more grassy than the other had been so you’re able to move quietly. You stop next to Arthur at the bottom of the hill, “This should be close enough, we don’t want to get too much closer standing up wind like we are,” he whispers.

You nod as you raise your rife up to take aim. “I got the left one, you take the right.”

“Alright, on three.” He raises his own rifle taking aim at the deer on the right. “One, two, thre-”

BANG! The ringing out of the gunfire cut off the ending of his last word. Both deer drop in their tracks. 

“Nice shot,” Arthur tells you lowering his gun. “Where did you learn to shoot like that.”

“It was that or starve. I had never even touched a gun till a little over half a year ago,” you explain. “You learn fast when your life depends on it.”

“I suppose you do,” he whistled for his horse, who came running up to you from where you had left it before. 

The two of you head over to the deer, Arthur lifting the first one onto the back of his horse, “Call your horse over here, so we can get these deer back to camp.”

“About that, I uhh, I don’t know how to whistle.”

“Well just do whatever you do, don’t matter,” he says as he attaches the deer to the back of his horse.

“I usually just have to ge get her,” you shift awkwardly knowing how big of an inconvenience this could be.

He pauses, before looking up at you. “If you stick around in this life running to where you left your horse isn’t always much of an option. You’re gonna have to learn how to call her.”

“I try to whistle, it’s just nothing ever works. It’s just air.”

“Try.”

“Right now?”

He nods waiting.

You take a deep breath, I can’t believe this, you thought. You pucker your lips and try blowing air through them. Nothing, just the sound of air, along with a little bit of spit. “See,” you point out.

Arthur mutters something to himself you can’t understand. “Try, doing it the other way, instead of blowing air out suck air into your mouth.”

“But that’s not how you-”

“Just try it,” he says rolling his eyes.

You do as he says, get ready but instead breathe in air through your lips. To your surprise it lets out a small soft tone. “I whistled!”

Arthur lets out a small laugh. “Good, just work on getting louder so she can actually hear you from over there.”

You try again a few more times, each time you impress yourself by being able to make a sound. You had always tried to learn how to whistle, but you had never been able to do it. Except for a few times on accident, though you could never figure out what it was you had done to be able to recreate it. “I don’t think I’m gonna be able to do it loud enough.”

“Maybe not today, here I’ll get her.” He whistled, which grabbed Bella’s attention and she slowly started to make her way over to you. “She sure is taking her time.”

“She ain’t used to being called over like that,” you defend, “She’s coming though at least I can see her.”

The two of you made small talk, until Bella finally arrived. Arthur quickly lifted up the deer you had shot and stowed it on Bella. “Come on, we need to get going. Strauss is anxiously waiting on my return I’m sure.”

You had almost forgotten about the errand Arthur had to run for Strauss, part of you wishes Arthur had forgotten. You follow Arthur down the road, him riding a few feet ahead of you. You decided it was best to stay behind, something about Strauss and his “jobs” seemed to put Arthur in a sour mood. You wished he would just tell you to go back to camp, but he must not trust you to go off on your own.

The ride to your destination was a short one, Arthur stopped his horse on the edge of some trees by a side road. “Stay here, I’ll be back in a bit,” he slid off his horse and made his way down the road. 

You waited patiently for about five minutes before you started getting anxious. He had been gone for a while, what if something had gone wrong, what if he needed help. Your mind filled with these what if questions like it always seemed to. “What do you think I should do Bella? Should I stay here or go check on him?” Bella didn’t respond, only swished her tail at a fly that had been buzzing around bothering her. “That’s more of a response than I usually get, I’m going to take that as a yes.”

I’ll just be sneaky you thought, just get close enough to see what’s going on then head back just to make sure he isn’t in too much trouble. You head up through the tree’s avoiding the main path incase he is on his way back so he doesn’t see you coming. You step quietly, but quickly coming up on a small house, where you spot Arthur in the garden standing over some man. 

“I told you Mr. Downes, we ain’t your idea of charity. I’m here to collect that money you borrowed from my friend Strauss,” he lifted the poor man up by his shirt.

You’re frozen, terrified by the sight in front of you. Arthur could throw the poor frail man around like a rag doll if he wanted. This is what he came here to do, terrorize this man. You look around taking in more from the scene, you notice a woman come outside, followed by a young man likely in his late teens. She yells something to Arthur, though you aren’t exactly sure what. You aren’t listening to the conversation anymore. You know you need to get back to the horses, but you can’t stop yourself as you watch him toss the poor man back up against the fence.

“Stop it Arthur, stop it right now!” You shout as you come out of the trees into the clearing.

His attention snaps to you, he lets go of Mr. Downes shirt his fist he had pulled back, to likely punch the man drops as he points to you. “I thought I told you to stay back there by the road with the horses.” 

Mr. Downes drops to the ground, crawling away from Arthur in a coughing fit. “I- I-”

“You what? I told you you didn’t need to see this. Get back to the horses. I told you I’d be right back.” He snapped before turning back.

“What is it, you afraid of your lady to see what kind of man you really are?” The woman standing outside added in. 

“I’m not his lady!” You shout at her.

“Damn it Star, go back to the horses like I told you quit causing problems.” Arthur looked at you, anger burning in his eyes.

“No, not till you come back.”

“I’ll be there in a minute, I told you I had a job to do.”

“What does he owe you. You said you had a debt to collect. How much is it?”

“Why is that any of your business, see there you go again asking questions that aren’t any of your concern. You’re like a goddamn child.”

You ignore how much his words hurt. You knew none of this was your business, you knew you weren’t supposed to be here. He was right.

“Fifty dollars. My husband borrowed fifty dollars,” the woman answered your question since Arthur clearly wouldn’t.

You reached in your bag, pulling out a small wallet, you reach in pulling out what is the last of your cash before throwing it on the ground in front of you. “Here. That should cover it.”

Everyone stared to you, taken aback. 

“It don't work that way, this ain’t your debt I’m not here to collect from you.”

“Why does it matter!” you shout trying to hide the pain in your voice. “You’re owed fifty dollars, it’s right there come get it and let’s go. Strauss doesn’t need to know. Now let’s go.”

Arthur turned his attention back to Mr. Downes, who was still sitting on the ground. He says something to the poor man, while you turn your attention to picking the money up off the ground counting it out.

You hold out the money to Arthur as he walks by, he snatches it out of your hand without saying a word. You place the remaining three dollars back in your bag following behind him back to the horses.


End file.
